Johannesburg - A Vietnamese man has been fined R300 000 for
the illegal possession of five rhino horns worth an estimated R6.8m in Asia, it
was reported on Wednesday.

Kwang That Thung, 25, who was supposedly in South Africa to
learn English, was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport shortly before he
was to have boarded a flight to Vietnam on 22 April, Beeld reported.

The horns, which weighed more than 13kg, were found
concealed in plastic lion masks in his suitcase.

Thung claimed a Vietnamese man approached him in a shopping
centre in Hatfield, Pretoria, and offered to pay for a flight home to visit his
family.

A few days later, the man met him at the airport and gave
him a suitcase and R26 000, which he asked him to take it to Vietnam.

Colonel Johannes Vermeulen, of the police's forensic
division, said four of the five horns had been poached, and that the fifth had
probably been taken from a mounted trophy.

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